


Something To Be Proud Of

by raendown



Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [154]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Rokudaime Hatake Kakashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Kakashi is working late again because he needs to. He needs to do well at this job.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Yamato | Tenzou
Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [154]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533161
Comments: 15
Kudos: 82





	Something To Be Proud Of

It wasn’t until Kakashi realized that he’d been squinting so hard he’d given himself a headache that he thought to lift his head and check the time, startled to discover that the sun had gone down behind him and the room was dim without any lights on. That would explain why he’d been having so much trouble seeing his work. Falling back in his chair, he dragged both hands down his face with a heavy sigh. He knew he should go home and get some rest. There was just always so much to do, enough to make his thoughts wander to the bottle of congratulatory sake Tsunade-sama had left in the hidden drawer for him. Sometimes he really understood why she’d drank so much on the job.

So caught up in his thoughts was he that when the door opened he genuinely startled, body jerking hard enough he very nearly upset the inkwell a little too close to the edge of his desk. He very carefully pushed it off to a safer spot before looking up. Tenzou looked back with crossed arms and one eyebrow raised.

“Another late night?” his friend asked. Kakashi busied himself with tidying the desk as though he’d been on the verge of leaving.

“You’re not on duty tonight,” he noted, bringing the roster up by memory. “What are you doing here?”

“Some of us were headed home from getting drinks and I could feel you up here, thought maybe you might have fallen asleep on the desk again.” Tenzou looked around and frowned at the darkness, flicking the light on and smirking a little when his Hokage swore at the sudden brightness.

Now shielding his eyes, Kakashi cleared his throat. “Maa, I might have fallen asleep. I was just about to pop home myself.”

“Right. Of course you were.” Clearly his friend didn’t believe him.

He was right not to since it was a bold faced lie but it was still annoying to be so obvious when there had once been a time when Kakashi had wrapped himself in such impenetrable armor that others would believe anything he said – or accept it, at least, since no one had ever really been sure when he was telling the truth. In a way that had been nice. Getting away with anything had been an absolute breeze with no one willing to pull their own teeth just to get a straight answer from him. It had been lonely though.

“Why do you keep doing this, senpai?” Tenzou asked.

“Doing what?”

“This. Working yourself ragged. You spent so many years thumbing your nose at different Hokage for destroying their life in this job and now here you are doing the same. There’s this really neat concept called ‘delegating’ and you _are_ allowed to do that.” His expression softened. “You have friends that will always be willing to help you.”

“I know,” Kakashi murmured.

Sometimes it was hard to believe it but he did know that he had friends. Of the many revelations in his personal journey over the last few years that one was perhaps the least surprising and yet the hardest to swallow.

“You know, excellent, so why don’t you let us help?” his friend asked.

“Because…this is my one shot at redemption.” This time it was Tenzou who startled but Kakashi went on without pause, knowing that if he stopped now the words would never come out. “There’s so many things in my life that I wish I could go back and change, so many things that I did wrong. And as much as I know that no one blames me for them now that doesn’t take away the guilt that I carry around every day. I _have_ to do this well. I _have_ to be the Hokage that Obito and Rin and Sensei and everyone would want me to be. When I pass on the hat to Naruto I swear this will be a village to be proud of again.”

If Naruto was to be their shining new future then Kakashi was determined that he would do his part to ensure it was such a brilliant future the history books would spend entire chapters comparing the difference in generations – and that his precious hard working student was the one to take all the credit. So many of his plans would only come to fruition long after Naruto had taken the helm and that was just the way he liked it. Credit for the job had never been something Kakashi needed. As long as the job got done he was satisfied.

“Senpai,” Tenzou’s quiet tone made him look away.

“Don’t. I know what you’re going to say and–”

“We’re already proud of you.”

Kakashi couldn’t quite stifle the gasp that slipped out. Those hadn’t been the words he was expecting at all. And yet they were exactly what he hadn’t even realized that he needed to hear. To his utter embarrassment he could feel tears welling up in his eyes as something deep in his chest unraveled for perhaps the first time since he accepted this position.

“I think I’m ready to go home now,” he murmured.

Without saying anything Tenzou nodded. He understood. That, Kakashi supposed, was just the benefit of a loving friendship.


End file.
